The Body Shop's "Honey Bronze" summer makeup collection has just arrived in stores in Singapore. Featuring powder bronzers, shimmery dusting powders, dry oil and lipglosses, all infused with fair trade honey and beeswax, the collection is just what one needs to get bronzed and glowing for summer.
The Honey Bronze Brilliance Powder (S$32.90) in #1 Bronze Shimmer and #2 Copper Shimmer are super sparkly. Bronze Shimmer applies as a bronzey gold shimmer while Copper Shimmer has a more rosy pink tint. Personally, I think it's too sparkly to use on the face but it's nice for the décolletage.
The Honey Bronze Lip Nectars and Bronzing Powders didn't really perk my interest. Instead, I zoomed in straight on the Honey Bronze Shimmering Dry Oil, which has been garnering positive reviews online. Thanks to Kas who is a Star Loyalty member, I was able to purchase this at S$31.30 (15% off the normal price of S$36.90).
The plastic stopper helps to moderate the flow of the oil so that it doesn't gush out uncontrollably.
While the dry oil looks shimmery in the bottle, when applied, it gives my skin more of a subtle, healthy sheen. I can't really see any shimmer particles, unless I look very closely. So there is no need to worry that it will make one look like a disco ball.
The oil absorbs easily without any streaking and adds a touch of color to my skin. My skin feels more moisturised without being overly greasy. The scent reminds me of gardenias.
In the photo below, you can see the slight shade difference between the back of my hand versus my fingers where I did not apply the oil.
Below is the ingredients list.
If you spend S$40 on makeup, including one Honey Bronze product, you can get a blush brush worth S$24.90 for free. On top of that, you can get a S$20 voucher with any S$80 purchase. You can view the current list of promotions here.
Just received this e-mailer from Givenchy for their Acid Summer makeup collection launch at Isetan Scotts tomorrow. You can see swatches of the eyeshadow palette and new lipglosses on Makeup & Beauty Blog.
The Visee website has been updated with the summer makeup collection which includes five Glam Glow Eyes quads, Glossy Nude Rouge in 11 shades and a new Lash Up Swing (Volume) mascara. Each Glam Glow Eyes palette includes a shimmery cream shade with "Tear Drop Pearl" in the lower left corner of the palette: this is recommended for highlighting the inner half of the lower eyelid. You can see swatches of the BR2 and BR3 palettes on this Japanese blog.
Visee is not available in Singapore but it can be ordered online from Adambeauty.com.
Being a long time collector of Stila palettes with the Stila girls illustrations, I was delighted when Stila decided to release a collection of five Beach Palettes this year. These are being released at the rate of one per month and currently, three of the five are available on Stilacosmetics.com.
Compared to last year's Travel Palettes, the Beach Palettes are slightly larger in size and now come with application instructions under the mirror. Each palette still contains four powder eyeshadows, with varying degrees of shimmer. The price has gone up slightly from US$10 to US$14, which is still quite affordable though Stila should stop claiming that these have a US$62 value. A big plus point is that Stila has done away with the crummy Convertible Colors which were just a greasy mess with poor colour payoff. Instead, each palette has two powder blush/highlighters.
Haute In The Hamptons is the second in the series. The combination of eyeshadow shades has a slightly dusky, vintage-y feel and looked quite interesting at first. The textures are similar to last year's Travel Palettes with decent colour payoff and blendability. However, after trying out the palette, I was disappointed by how the eyeshadows (in particular Blue Skies) faded somewhat after a few hours of wear, even with use of Urban Decay Primer Potion as a base. At the end of the day, they just looked like a dull wash of greyish colours.
For this look, I applied Sand as a wash over the browbone area, Linen from the inner corner to the middle of the upper lid and the inner half of the lower lashline, Blue Skies in the crease and along the lower lashline, and Route 27 along the upper lashline.
The blushes performed better and lasted well through the whole day for me.
The only minor drawback is that the blushes tended to kick up quite a lot of powder when I run my brush over them.
For this look, I used Montauk Highway as the blush.
The other products I used were: Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum Gel Foundation #51 over Shu Uemura UV Underbase Mousse in Beige, Jill Stuart Loose Powder #1 Natural, Anna Sui Lipgloss C #306, MAC Superslick Liquid Eye Liner in On The Hunt, RMK Extra Deep W Mascara, Benefit It Stick, K-Palette Real Lasting Eyebrow 02 and Lancome Natural Light Creator Bare Skin Perfecting Corrector Pen #1.
Below is the ingredients list. Like the earlier Travel Palettes, this is made in China. While Haute In The Hamptons was a disappointment, I'll still like to purchase the rest of the Beach Palettes just to complete my collection.
Went on a beauty shopping spree today and came home with these new lovelies!
The Lunasol summer makeup collection stocks have just arrived at Takashimaya but the counter has not received the testers or the collection display yet. Although I already have several brown and blue-themed Lunasol palettes, I was still attracted by the softly gleaming shades in the limited edition Ocean Scene Eyes quads (S$77 each).
The Coloring Cheeks EX03 Clear Coral Pink (S$39 for refill) is a sweet peachy coral with very refined sparkles.
I also picked up the Compact Case (Select) N (S$35) to house the blush pan. The case fits four blushes/highlighters, and has holes running down the back to help one pop out the pans. The pans come with a couple gobs of a malleable glue on the back to help hold them in the case. The case has a reflective finish so it's a bit of a fingerprint magnet. The Takashimaya counter still has stock of the older version of the case which has a matte finish and costs S$33.
With the Coloring Cheeks #8 Medium Pink and Illuminating Highlight 01 Sheer Lavender from the permanent range.
The Eye Pencil N EX02 Blue Green (S$43) twists up by turning the end of the pencil so it doesn't require sharpening. This is also limited edition.
Received this Impress skincare trial kit with my purchase.
Over at L'Occitane, I got the new Pivoine Flora Lip Shine in Brun Pirouette (S$28, 8 ml), a lovely shimmering caramel that looks like it has just the right amount of warmth for that "my lips but better" look.
Guerlain Ombre Fusion #3 Maya (S$45, 6ml) is a complex deep brown shade with a gorgeous rich shimmer that builds up very nicely with layering. The texture reminded me very much of the discontinued Eye Fantasists by Beaute de Kose.
At Sephora, I used my $40 rewards voucher on the Urban Decay Blush Brush (S$43).
While I was away in India, Mag very kindly helped me to snag the MAC Surf, Baby! Cheek Powder in My Paradise (S$47) and Surf USA Eyeshadow (S$30). My Paradise sold out in Singapore on the very first day that the collection was launched as the quantities were extremely limited, just like last summer's Marine Life blush.
At Paul & Joe, I picked up the Blotting Paper 2011 (S$6 for 100 sheets) and Emery Board (S$8) from the L'Horizon Bleu collection.
Thanks to another very kind friend, I was able to snag these two mirrors from the June issue of Elle Hong Kong. Just looking at the cheerful tropical fish print makes one smile :-) If only magazines in Singapore came up with such cute freebies instead of yet another cheap tote bag.
A friend in the US helped me to CP the Stila Haute in Hamptons travel palette (US$14) and Sparkle Waterproof Liquid Eye Liners (US$22).
The eye liners have been garnering excellent reviews online and the shades look stunningly vibrant in real life.
And finally thanks to AhCapp who helped me purchase from Hong Kong the new Jill Stuart Lasting Gel Eyeliner #5 Gold Shell, the eyeliner brush and Blush Blossom #7 Charming Lily.
I haven't played with any of these products yet except for the Jill Stuart stuff. I'll post more detailed reviews and looks after I've tried them out. My heartfelt thanks to all the friends who helped to make my makeup wishes come true!
